South Carolina Emergency Management Division leaders say they’re read to respond if a tropical system does strike our state next week.

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The agency say they’re monitoring Florence, which has gone back and forth as both a hurricane and a tropical storm. On Friday, they raised the readiness condition of the state’s five-level alert system to Operation Condition (OPCON) 4. On that scale, 5 is normal, everyday conditions, while one is an emergency.

OPCON 4 means emergency managers make initial preparations for the possibility of any hazardous situations while select personnel from SCEMD’s Operations and Preparedness sections continue to monitor Hurricane Florence from the State Emergency Operations Center in West Columbia.

Friday afternoon, the agency met with Gov. Henry McMaster to give him and other state officials the latest information.

We just wrapped up our first conference call with emergency response leaders from across the state. Team South Carolina is ready to respond, please make sure you and your family take steps to be prepared as well. Visit http://scemd.org for the latest.

“We’re watching Hurricane Florence very closely and it’s too early to tell what impact, if any, this storm will have,” SCEMD Director Kim Stenson said, “It is the peak of hurricane season so even if this storm passes us by, there could be more hurricanes on the way in the coming weeks. It is vital that every resident have a personal emergency plan and be ready to take action if they need to.”

Current forecast models aren’t quite sure yet if the state will be impacted by Florence. If the storm did come to the Palmetto State, the earliest it would be here would be Thursday.